Abstract: Objective · To evaluate the efficacy and safety of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for schizophreniameta-analysis, and provid evidence support for clinical treatment of schizophrenia. Methods · Randomized controlled trials of rTMS and schizophrenia were searched on Embase, PubMed, Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wanfang and VIP. The quality of the included literature was controlled and meta-analysis was performed with Stata 15.1 software. Results · Seventeen studies were enrolled, including 486 patients in the stimulation group and 436 in the control group. rTMS was effective in treating patients with schizophrenia (OR3.32, 95% CI 1.93—5.70, Z4.35, P0.000); rTMS treatment was effective for overall condition and negative symptoms of patients with schizophrenia (SMD-0.33, 95% CI -0.58—-0.08, Z2.61, P0.009; SMD-0.41, 95% CI -0.65—-0.17, Z3.31, P0.001), and ineffective for positive symptoms (P0.755). There was no significant difference in adverse reactions between the two groups (P0.732). Subgroup analysis revealed that only high frequency (10 Hz) stimulation and treatment for 4 weeks could achieve therapeutic effects. Conclusion · rTMS is effective in treating negative symptoms of patients with schizophrenia and has high therapeutic safety, but it is ineffective for positive symptoms.

Key words: schizophrenia, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation(rTMS), meta-analysis